Using Trimix

  Jim, you sure can put a spin on a subject...thanks for the giggle..and for the information.

Swim

Syringes:

BD Ultra Fine has 30 ga/ 1/2 inch insulin syringes available at almost any pharmacy.  The Caverject I got had 31 ga. needles. I can't find any needles smaller than 31 ga. made by BD, the largest American supplier.  I do see lots of 33 ga lancets, which are something completely different.  As far as length, I tried a couple of 5/16 inch needles and had very littel response using them, went back to 1/2 inch and everything worked again.  I suspect 5/16 didn't place the drug as deeply in me as needed. 

biker90, What brand syringes do you use?  And your source?

Thanks for your comments guys- I got my trimix last night from my local compounding pharmacy. I talked to the pharmicist at length about several issues and decided on trimix because he indicated that he had had much greater success with tri or bimix. I am not posting his address because he does not think compounders should fill script s by mail order because for various reasons. I'll be happy to pass his name along privately, he's in Kansas. He says:  1 Reason for 90 day expiration is because over time germs may grow in vial because script s are not compounded in a germ free environment and also because of multiple use of same vial.  2 Refrigeration required for same reason - although drug remains effective when stored at room temperature, germs grow much faster at room temp than in refrigerator. I will be replacing my script every 90 days based on his comments.  3 There can be a number of different drug variations in the trimix compound - all are called trimix. The pharmicist indicated that the following combination was a middle of the road comibination which had produced good results for many of his clients. He stressed that results, including pain, very widely based on the combination used. He suggested that I determine the level of drug necessary to produce good result and that if I had any pain, then we could lower the Alprostadil level. Here is what I got.    10 ML vial      30 mg Papaverine      1 mg Phentolamine     20 mcg/mL Alprostadil Directions indicate dose is 1ML, but pharmacist suggested starting with .5ML. Cost $110  --with 90 day expiration (which I intend to comply with) Caverject with Insurance was 3 times this amount FIRST TRY Last night I tried it. As I suspected the needles furnished were 28gage. Maybe it was just in my head because of the anticipation, but the injection seemed painful compared to the caverject 33 gage needle. The .5ML was too much. It produced great results but lasted more than two hours. Painful after about an hour.  I plan to buy some 33 gage needles and will likely use .3 ML next time. Based on my experience and other postings, I think a good starting point is something less than .5ML and then adust from there.  

Jim

You have been a great inspiration and help to men on this website!  You are certainly a champion who has forged ahead and overcome some big obstacles with your PCa along the way.  My hat is always off to you.  Best of luck and good wishes to you as time moves forward!

Dave

James C I did some research on needles. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I noticed a substantial comfort difference between a 28g and 33g needle. Since I had been using a 1/2 inch needle and had seen conflicting postings about the effectiveness of the 5/16 needle, I attempted to find a 33g,  1/2 inch, syringe/needle combo. The caverject system that I previously was using had a 33g- 1/2 inch needle made by BD. However, I believe that must be a proprietary needle made specifically for caverject because I was unable to find that needle in the BD product catalog. I was able to find a 33g 1/2 needle made by TSK (steriject 33 1/2) and then purchase seperate syringes. Total cost was about $.83 per syringe/needle combo. 30g, 1/2 inch insulin syringes can be purchased for less than 1/2 that, but I want the smallest 1/2 inch needle possible and don't mind spending an extra $ .40 per injection to have the least amount of pain and assurance that the medication will get where is supposed to go. I found the needles and syringes at www.researchsupply.net   -"quiet" I'm using these to inject monkies -100 needles and syringes plus $15 shipping $82.76 cheaper at medical supply, but had to have a medical license or pharmacy number--Amazing what we have to go through to get help.   hope this helps someone

We were given Trimax in September, but have yet to try. Our doc said it was ok to leave at room temp until we used, then refridge the rest. Now reading this 90 day issue. Are our samples still good? or should he dump them? Kurt just went to buy needles, so any advice would be very helpful. Courtne

Hey Courtney,

My Trimix is now 4 months old and still has no cloudyness so I am still using it. If you have never drawn any meds from the vial it should still be good IMHO. My doc said it would not lose potency by going over the time limit - just that there was increased possibility of contamination. At $75 per 5 ml vial with no help from the insurance company, I ain't throwin it out till I have too...

Jim

Biker, Kurt just bought 3/10 cc insulin syringes. How do we know where the right dose is? Insulin needle is 30 cc's or i guess 10 since 3/10 cc needles, and trimax in 1.o ml vial? any thoughts?

Thanks again, Jim.  Our needles do not have point (.) anything, just numbers.  We tried to 6 tonight and very little, but no pain.  I am guessing that to six was .06 on your needle.  Just didn't want to end up in hospital.  Will try more next time.  Probably should call pharmacist or doc first.  All we can remember about what doc told us was 10.  Thank you again for all you do.  We love you!  Courtney

F.Y.I. regarding auto-injection for trimix.  If you have difficulty injecting trimix because of pain, anticipated pain, shakes, fear, etc., as I did, then I would recommend using an auto-injector.  I hesitated going this direction for quite some time but my right side always gave me some problems.  I purchased the BD Automatic Injector # 328245 for about $18.00 from Walgreens.  It is a spring loaded device that has a small push button on its side for release of the needle into the penis.  All you have to do is load the syringe, place it in a proper position on the skin surface and gently push in the release button.  No pain, no anticipation, very smooth and its overwith before you know it.....what a pleasure and a dream.  Absolutely no anxiety making the process almost transparent.  I bit the bullet and very happy I did.

Hope this is of some consolation to those in need.

Marc

kziz said...
Biker, Kurt just bought 3/10 cc insulin syringes. How do we know where the right dose is? Insulin needle is 30 cc's or i guess 10 since 3/10 cc needles, and trimax in 1.o ml vial? any thoughts?

Sounds like Kurt got the 30-unit low-dose insulin syringes, which are 0.3 mL (cc) volume.  Insulin syringes are marked in units rather than mLs, but you can convert it to mL--each 10 unit mark equals 0.1 mL.  You can buy tuberculin syringes--0.5 mL or 1.0 mL which will have the markings on the barrel in mL's.

P.S.  The illustration of the syringe that Jim posted in this thread looks like a tuberculin, not an insulin, syringe.